What We Learn |
Problem solving
Symbolic thinking
Social interaction
Math concepts
Motor skills |
Supply List |
Various sizes of square and rectangle-shaped recycled food containers
Construction paper, newspaper, or colored contact paper
Clear packing tape
Scissors
Various pictures of children at play |
How-To |
Take several square or rectangular boxes and wrap them using construction paper, newspaper or colored contact paper. Simply wrap the boxes as you would normally wrap a gift. So the wrapping doesn’t become loose during play, make sure to use clear packing tape to secure the edges of the paper to the box.
Empty food containers are a great source of boxes to turn into blocks. Feel free to be creative when finding boxes or containers to wrap. For example, you can take a cardboard milk container, and push down its top to make a rectangle. The boxes can be any size – large or small. Your “blocks” don’t even necessarily need to be square or rectangular. For example, you can use a Pringles container to create a cylindrical block.
You can take this activity one step further by adorning your blocks with pictures on the blocks. Cut out pictures of children from magazines and tape the pictures to the blocks. You can even use photos of the children that you care for, or use hand-drawn illustrations. You can tape one picture per block, or you can tape one image onto each side of a block.
When you are done creating the blocks, set them out for the children to play with the next time you have block play. Plain blocks may be more likely to encourage children to use their own imaginations and concentrate on building. Blocks with pictures may encourage children to use blocks in other ways and will likely encourage more language. |
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